Helico-plane



June 17 1924'.

H. A. WHITESIDE HELICO PLANE Original Filed Feb. 13,

1920 3 Sheets$heet l INV ENTOR ATTORNEY ,Fune '17, 1924.

H. A. WHITESIDE HEIIJICO PLANE Original Filed Feb. 13. 1920 3Sheets-Sheet 2 H. A. WHITESIDE June 17, 1924.

HELICO PLANE ATTORNEY Patented June 17, 1924.

PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD AUSTIN WHITESIDE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HELICO-PLANE.

Application filed February 18, 1920, Serial No. 359,553. Renewed April30, 1924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Howauo A. \VHITE- SIDE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, State of New York, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Helico- Planes. of which the following isa full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it apperta ins to make and use the same.

This invention relates to airships of the heavier than air class, andwith respect to some of its more specific details to that type, known ashelicopters and aeroplanes.

()ne object of this invention is to provide an aeroplane with improvedmeans for directly lifting it upwardly into the air without anypreliminary run along the ground- Another object is to provide anaeroplane with an improved means for sustaining it,-in substantiallystationary position in the air.

Another object is to provide an improved means for directly lifting anaeroplane in flight into the air, for sustaining it in position in theair or for effecting substantially vertical descent without any directaction of sustaining air currents on the wings.

Another object is to provide an aeroplane with means of improvedconstruction for lifting the aeroplane or sustaining it in flight or forpropelling it forwardly or rearwardly through the air.

Another object is to provide an aeroplane with improved propelling meansin which the direction of the propelling effort is readily adjustable.

Another object is to providea wing for an aeroplane with improved meanswhereby very little resistance is offered to upward or downward movementthrough the air and which may be adjusted so as to form an efiicientsustaining surface for an aeroplane in flight.

Other objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in part.pointed out hereinafter in connection with the following detaileddescription.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction.combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter in the county of New Yorkand Figure 1 is a side elevation of biplane with the invention appliedthereto; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a detailedsectional view of the means for transmitting power from the motor to thelifting propellers Fig. 4 is a top plan view of a portionof a wingshowing the tiltable panels and means for operating the same, certainparts being shown in section to more clearly show the invention;

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of Fig.4, parts being broken away to showthe operating mechanism for tilting the wing panels;

Fig. 6 is a detailed sectional enlarged view of a portion of theoperating mechanism for the wing panels;

Fig. 7 is a view of a hand-operating lever for operating the wingpanels;

Figs. 8 and 9 are sectional views showing portions of the mechanism forchan ing the angular position of the lifting prope ers;

Fig. 10 is a front elevation showing a modification of the powerconnections Fig. 11 isa detailed fragmentary view of the gearconnections used in the modification of Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a tandem biplane with the inventionapplied thereto.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description ofthe'invention, an aeroplane of the biplane type is shown in Figs. 1 and2. As shown, this biplane has upper and lower wings or planes 1 and 2, afuselage 3 having a cockpit or pilots compartment 4, a tractor flightpropeller 5, a chassis or landing gear 6, and steering rudders 7 and 8.All these parts may be of any standard or approved construction thoughin the present embodii-ment a special type of wingsis employe In ordertoenable the aeroplane to rise from the ground without a-preliminary runalong'thesurface thereof, and to enable it to remain in substantiallystationary position in mid-air, or to descend substantially verticallywithout a downward gliding move ment, direct lifting propellers orscrews are provided. In the embodiment illustrated, two of thesepropellers 9 and 10 are employed, being driven through suitable powertransmitting connections from the driving motor. As shown in Fig. 2,these lifting propellers are mounted adjacent to the op posite ends ofthe upper wing at the entering edge thereof'on short shafts 11 and 12respectively. As the mountings for the shafts 11 and 12 are similar inconstruction only one need be described in detail.

As shown in Fig.3, the shaft 12 is mounted in suitable hearings in agear casing or box 13 and carries a bevel gear 14 rigidly securedthereto, meshing with a similar bevel gear '15 rigidly secured to ashaft 16 extending adjacent the forward edge of the upper wing. Theshaft 16 is preferably made hollow in order to secure the least weightconsistent with the required strength.

Gear housing 13 is suitably rigidly secured to a hollow tube 17 whichencases the driving shaft 16, said tube being rotatable on said shaftand connected to a similar tube 17 by a transmitting connection 18 shownin detail at the left side of Fig. This connection comprises a lmb 19secured rigidly at the end of the tube 17 and having an arm 20projecting radially therefrom and connected at its outer end bya rod 21to the outer end of a similar crank arm 20' which is connected insimilar manner to the tube 17'. It will be obvious from Figs. 2 and 3that the tube 17 is connected at its outer end to the gear casing 13,the gear casings 13 and 13' thus being rigidly connected through thetubular casing 17 and 17 to rotate in unison. The shaft 16 and tubular'casings 17 and 17 are carried by suitable bearings 22' and 23 carried bythe forward truss of the aeroplane.

Intermediate the ends of shaft 16 is a gear casing or box'24 suitablysupported by bearings 25 and 26 which are rotatably mounted in the hubs19' and 19. This casing houses a bevel gear 27 rigidly mounted on theshaft 16 and meshing with a second bevel gear 28 which is rigidlymounted on a hollow shaft 29, the latter being suitably connected to thedriving motor of the aeroplane.

Disposed on one of the tubular sections, as 17, is'a housing 30enclosing a segmental gear 31' rigidly mounted on said section andmeshing with a worm 32 car ried by a vertically disposed shaft 33mounted in suitable bearings and carrying a hand-operated means 34 atits lower end. For the purpose of furnishing a strong and rigidstructure for the support of the lifting propellers and the drivingmechanism therefor a truss frame is provided as shown in Fig. 2. Thistruss frame has upper and lower chords 35 and 36 respectively, andstruts 37 extending therebctween. Tie rods or wires 38 secured to theupper and lower chords may also be provided to more rigidly secure theparts in operative alignment.

When the plane is moving upwardly or downwardly under'the influence ofthe lift ingpropellers it is desirable that the air resistance to suchmovement offered by the wings, or other parts, be reduced to a minimum.For accomplishing this purpose a wing construction is provided which isparticularly shown in the detailed views of Figs. 4, 5, and 6. As shownin Fig. 4, the wing surface, or a large portion thereof, is made upof-movable sections 40 and 40 mounted in openings in the wing. Thesesections are mounted on pintles or stub shafts 41, 42 which are disposedat one side of the longitudinal center line of each section, thesections 40 being mounted at one side of the center of length of thewing and sections 40' at the other side thereof. As Fig. 4 shows acentral portion of a wing, the centerof length being indicated at n, itwill be noted that the tilting sections on opposite sides of said centerof length are reversely mounted on their respective stuh' shafts so thatall the panels are overbalanced on their edges remote from the cen terof length.

Stub shafts 42 extend through and are supported in the walls of alongitudinal frame member 43, which may be-the front spar of the wing,passing through the in Jterior of the frame member where suitable meansare provided for operating the sections. As shown this operating meansmay comprise longitudinal movable rack bars 44, 45, disposed in saidhollow frame member and having toothed sections 46 engag ing pinions 47rigidly mounted on the shafts '42. At their adjacent ends, the rack bars44 and are connected by links 48 to the opposite ends of a double crankarm 4!) carried by an operating shaft 50. The shaft 50 is suitablymounted and may be manually operated by alever 51 which is adapted to belocked in adjusted position by the engagement of a pawl with the toothedsector 52 as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawing.

The sections 40 and 40 are provided at their edges remote fromthe centerof length of the wing with/ suitable stops 53 which engage the marginsof the apertures to hold the sections firmly in the plane of the wingunder the influence of the "lifting force of the air impinging on thelower surface thereof.

The operation of the apparatus thus far described is as follows: When itis desired to rise from the earth for flight into the as shown in Fig.2.

air, the hand lever 51 is adjusted to operate the rack bars 44 and 15 tomove the wing sections and 40 into substantially vertical positions, sothat the edges thereof carrying the stops 53' move downwardly as shownby the dotted lines in Fig. 5. The shaft 33 is then operated by anysuitable manual or power means to adjust the lifting propellers 9 and 10into horizontal position When the lifting propellers are'moved into thisposition it will be noted that the worm and gear constructionparticularly shown in Fig. 8 aotsto positively lock the propellers inadjusted position. The power for adjusting the propellers is transmittedthrough the hollow casing 17 to gear box 13' and through hollow casing17 connections 20", 21 and 20, and hollow casing 17 to gear box 13, sothat the lifting propellers at both sides operate to adjusted positionin unison. The lifting propellers may then be started to exert liftingforce on the-aeroplane, and the propeller speed is' increased untilsuflicient force-is exerted to lift the plane from the ground.

The main propeller 5 may be started up as desired to propel the machinein a horizontal direction when the desired altitude has been reached,and the wing sections 40 and 40 may also be restored to normalpositions. Both the lifting and the driving propellers are driven fromthe motor through suitable clutch mechanisms which may be released orset at will. It will also be obvious that the lifting propellers may beoperated if desired without tilting the wing sections, but in this casethe air resistance will'be relative] y great. The lifting propellers maythen be moved to vertical position, as shown, in dotted lines in Fig. 1,so as to assist the main flight propeller in driving the aeroplanethrough the ar. If desired the main propeller may be omitted entirelyand the lifting propeller utilized for performing the functions thereof.It is also obvious that the propellers 9 and 10 may be adjusted to anyposition intermediate the horizontal and vertical positionsshown in Fig.1 so that the effort may be utilized both tolift the aeroplane into theair and to propel it-laterally therethroughythey may also be adjusted soas to exert backward effort, so that rearward movement of the plane maybe effected. Inasmuch as the tiltable wing sections are mounted offcenter, the force of the air currents impinging the under side of thewing in normal conditions of flight tends to hold each section firmly inits seat, the stops 53 holding it from moving beyond the plane of thewing. It will be further noted that the sections 40 and 40' arereversely mounted at opposite sides of the center of length of the wing,and that they are rotated in opposite directions when tilted from normalposition so that the balance of the plane is mainpurpose the line ofresultant effort of the lifting propellers should pass through thecenter of gravity of the aeroplane.

In the modification shown in Figs. 10 and 11 the two lifting propellers9 and 10 are driven respectively through inclined shafts 16 and 16extending from the main driving motor to the respective gear boxes orcasings 13" and 13 through suitable gear connections in which thepropeller shafts 11 and 12 are driven. In this construction there is aprojecting box 60 on the side of each gear box, the )urpose of which isto house two intermesliing gears 61 and 62 rigidly mounted respectivelyon inclined shafts 16 (or 16") and a short shaft 655, which is mountedin suitable bearings in the gear box. These short shafts carry bevelgears 15 meshing with bevel gears 14 rigidly mounted on the propellershafts. This construction provides means for allow ing the gear boxes13'' and 13" to rotate with the propellers in vertical planes withoutany binding of the driving gears.

As .shown in Fig. 10, gear boxes 13 and 13 with the lifting propellerscarried thereby are rotated in vertical planes by means similar tothatshown in Figs. 1 and 2. This means includes a shaft 33* in drivingrelationship with a gear in the housing 30*. These connections beingsimilar to those shown in Fig. 8 need not be described in detail here.An operating bar 61 is connected at opposite ends to gear boxes 13 and13 and intermediate the ends thereof it is connected to the gearmechanism which is operated by means of shaft 33. It will thus be seenthat the bar 64 is movable bodily parallel to its longitudinal axis torotate the gear boxes and the lifting propellers.

As shown in Fig. 10, a suitable truss frame may be furnished forsupporting the power transmitting gear for the propellers. This maycomprise an upper stress member 65 and lower stress members which may bein the form of tubular casings surrounding shafts 16 and 16 or theshafts may themselves be employed as lower stress members. Struts 66extend between the upper and lower stress members frame.

In the modification of Fig. 12- tandem to rigidly brace the wings and71- are arranged on a common fuselage 3*, each Wing being constructed asdescribed in connection with Figs. 4, 5, and 6 above, and themovablesections thereof being controlled from the pilots cockpit 4: by anysuitable operating mechanism. According to this modificatlon liftingpropellers 72, 73 are mounted adjacent the forward wing and similarpropellers 74 and 75 are mounted adjacent the rear wing. The propellersadjacent each wing are adapted to be rotated simultaneously in verticalplanes by an operating gear similar to that described above. Thesepropellers may therefore act to lift the aeroplane or to propel ithorizontally in flight as particularly described above in connectionwith the modification shown in Figs. 1 to 6.

For the purpose of securing stability in all the modifications oftheinvention, the adjacent lifting propellers are connected to rotate inopposite directions. This is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 12 whichshow that the adjacent propellers both laterally and fore and aft rotatein opposite directions.

The operation of the modification shown in Figs. 10 and 12 is similar tothat of Figs. 1 to 6 which has been particularly described above. Thisoperation will therefore be clear to those skilled in the art, and neednot be described in detail.

As many changes could be made in theabove construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be madewithout departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description'or shown in the accompanying drawings.shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the followingclaimsis intended to cover all of the generic and specific features ofthe invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of theinvention which, as a matter of language, might be said to falltherebetween.

Having described my invention, what ll claim as new and desire to secureby Let ters Patent is: 1. In an aeroplane, in combination, a fuselagehaving a traction propeller at one end thereof, a sustaining planeextending laterally from said fuselage, a second sustaining plane spacedvertically from said first plane, a lifting propeller spaced verticallyfrom one ofsaid planes, means for ad justing sail lifting propeller to aposition laterally dlsposed from one of said planes, and means on one ofsaid planes for varying the r ggistance toupward or downward movemerit.

2. In combination with an aeroplane of ease-1a ing planes, a fuselage, aflight propeller-at one end of said fuselage, a lifting propelleradjacent one lateral edge of one of said planes, means for adjusting thedirection of effort of one of said propellers, means for locking saidpropeller in adjusted position, and means on one of said planes to varythe resistance to upward or downward movement. r

3. In combination with an aeroplane of the biplane type, sustainingplanes for said aeroplane, a flight propeller, a lifting propeller, oneof said propellers being adjustable so as to exert forward, backward orvertical efiort upon said aeroplane, and means mounted on one of theplanes of said aeroplane to vary the resistance to upward or downwardmovement.

4. In an aeroplane, in combination, a wing having a rigid frameincluding a longitudinally disposed hollow frame member, a plurality ofmovable sustaining panels mounted in said frame and having operatingextensions extending into said hollow member, operating connections forsaid panels mounted within said hollow frame member, and operatingmechanism operable from the pilots cockpit for tilting said panels.

5. In an aeroplane, in combination, a wing having a rigid frameincluding a longitudi nally disposed hollow frame member, a plurality ofmovable sustaining panels mounted in said frame and having operatingextensions extending into said hollow member, pinions carried by saidoperating extensions and disposed in said hollow frame member, ara'ckcarried in said hollow frame member, and operating mechanism operablefrom the pilots cockpit to control said rack whereby to operate saidsustaining panels.

6. In an aeroplane, in combination, a fuselage having a tractorpropeller mounted thereon, a sustaining wing extending on opposite sidesof said fuselage, movable sustaining panels mounted on said plane, apropeller mounted near the forward edge of said plane and a-daptedtorotate in a plane substantially parallel to that of said wing, meansadapted to move one or more of said panels and thereby reduce orincrease the effective sustaining area of said wing, and means adaptedto swing said propeller into a position such that its plane of rotationis substantially normal to that of said wing.

7. In an aeroplane, in combination, a

fuselage having a tractor propeller mounted thereon, a sustaining planeextending on opposite sides of said fuselage, movable sustaining panelsmounted on said plane, propellers mounted near the forward edge of saidplane and on opposite sides of said fuselage and adapted to rotate in aplane substantially parallel to that of said susthe biplane type havingsuperposed sustaintaining plane, said last mentioned propellers beingadapted to swing so as to rotate in a swinging gear boxes and apropeller shaft plane spaced above said sustaining plane or mountedtherein to swing with the same. 10 to rotate in a plane at an angle tosaid sus-' In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, taining plane in aposition laterally dis-. in the presence of two witnesses.

6 posed from the latter, means to rotate said HOWARD AUSTIN WHITESIDE.

propellers including driving gears, a driv- Witnesses: ing shaftoperatively connecting the same, CARL W. WEEKS, means to swing saidpropellers including MARY CAsnm.

